Reactor leak nuclear sub based in Plymouth has been 'repaired'

A PLYMOUTH-based Royal Navy nuclear submarine taken out of service following a coolant leak in its reactor has been repaired, according to Defence Minister Philip Dunne.

But Mr Dunne said it is too early to confirm the final cost of the repairs to HMS Tireless, a Trafalgar class submarine launched in 1984, which returned to Plymouth in February after the leak.

Conservative Mr Dunne, in response to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Paul Flynn (Newport West), said: "The reactor in HMS Tireless was shut down on her return to Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport to allow investigations to be carried out and repair plans to be developed.

"Laboratory tests confirmed that the level of airborne radioactivity in the reactor compartment was well within the normal permitted limits for discharges to the environment."

He added: "Repairs to HMS Tireless have now been completed and she will return to operation service in due course."

Mr Flynn asked whether any radioactive emissions were vented to the atmosphere following a coolant leak.

He also questioned where the releases were emitted, when they took place and the quantities of radioactivity.

Mr Flynn added in his written question: "To ask... what the expected duration and cost of repairs to HMS Tireless is? And whether a decision has yet been made as to whether the submarine will remain in service following the recent reactor coolant leak?"

In 2007, two Britons were killed after an explosion in air-purification equipment on board HMS Tireless during a joint Anglo-American operation beneath the Arctic icecap.

And HMS Tireless was forced to dock at Gibraltar for a year in 2000 to undergo repairs when a fracture was found in a pipe close to its nuclear reactor.

In 2011, the submarine returned home to Devonport naval base after more than 10 months on operations in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, during which it covered 35,000 miles.